[Ads-l] troops

[W Brewer]

JL:  << Most early HDAS exx.of single-soldier "troop" are, as Wilson
suggests,
mainly in direct address from a superior to one of lowly rank. >>
WB:  As far as I can recall, I have only heard/used it, with any frequency
at all, in the expression, "At ease, troop!" in a very condescending,
derisive tone. Collective <troop (of)> strikes me as downright literary,
like an "Exaltation of Larks". (Jist got a hankerin' fer some orange pekoe.)

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